Hello and welcome to the blog...because I promised someone elsewhere, today's is a quick post re the problems I feel make Wind Turbines a burden not the saviour when it comes to Energy Production and Renewable Energy Targets, etc...not least of all, I feel bad that I've fallen right-off covering Turbines as only one of a number of other issues I've fallen behind on, eg, all the recent Rail Lands shizzle, as I struggle to push forward with the blog...(but you are still pushing though?-Ed)...in all directions...forward, back, uphill, boundaries...(pushing to where push comes to shove?-Ed)...pushing to the very edge of 'shove'...just seems like the right thing to do...playing my hand by pushing forward by pushin' back 'cos it fits like a shove...(how on gourd's green earth do you manage that, to make that last ridiculous sentence make sense?-Ed)...by living it...(fair enough-Ed)...
But First:...was looking-up Mt Gambier City Council's agenda/minutes stuff and accidentally found a link to a site called 'thepetitionsite.com' (the Petition site), where-in was a 'petition' calling for Councillor Josh Lynagh to resign because of his support for Gay Rights/Marriage Equality/whatevs...(really? with all of the rank corruption and fraud and crass incompetence evident in virtually everything Mt Gambier City Councol does, some clown wants to complain about a Councillor being relatively compassionate and respectful...whatta' joke!-Ed)...how do you know it's 'a clown', not 'clowns' plural?...(because the petition's got the complaining dude's name attached, and it has only one signature...one signature, one clown-Ed)...fair enough...
Thursday evening September 17th 2015 there was a meeting/info session/whatevs at the City
Hall/Main Corner/whatevs re Wind Turbines, and for a number of reasons I specifically chose to
not go...however, I have given an undertaking to cover the main issues via a quick review post, so I'd like to push the 'Courtin' Disaster Part II' post to this afternoon/tomorrow,
so's a post re Turbines 'cos I promised, and then 'Courts' later...
Firstly, this was a pro-Turbine meeting organised by Community Action for Sustainability, and out of respect for the group and it's general premise and attitude, conduct, etc, it wouldn't be cool for me to go there and hang-it on these people...(yeah, but that's hardly a respect that you've been shown yourself, they booed you at the last CAS meeting thingy you went to, remember? you very politely and even jovially made some statements about/critiques of Turbines that the guest speaker was fine with, but there was glares and mutterings from the audience-Ed)...well, indeed, there was a couple of drawn-out 'uuurghs' and a few glares, but you're not going to go into any group/meeting/info session/whatevs that's already decided it's agenda like that, and not run into urghs and glares from some...(yeah, fair enough-Ed)...there are people in CAS who are more than happy to engage if not ultimately agree with me on any issue, and have done so and will hopefully continue to do so...
In any situation you're bound to run into idealogues/zealots/whatevs who jam their fingers in their ears whilst glaring angrily at you through a chorus of loud 'laalaalaas', but you have a point Ed, and that's the second thing, why would I go to a meeting and speak-up when all I'm going to achieve is further piss-off people who aren't listening to what I'm saying anyway...there's no-one in that room I would have convinced of changing their mind about anything, and those already prepared to be questioning and flexible just get caught in an uncomfortable conflict between their group zealots and rational debate...(and may I just observe how bizarre albeit accurate it is that you would refer to yourself as the 'rational debate' in this equation-Ed)...observe away my good man...
And of course my highly publicised reputation as a scurrilous troublemaker always proceeds me, so's it ain't gunna' matter what natter comes outta' my chatter, there's a gunna' be haters waitin' just hangin' to hang their hate on me...(do you mean that it doesn't matter what you say, your 'natter', if it comes from your mouth, from your 'chatter', then there are going to be people present who will 1) hate you for opening your mouth at all, and/or 2) hate you for what you're saying in dissin' (disrespecting) their views and opinions?-Ed)...and those who hate me just for showing-up in the first instance...(but yet, at the same time, in the same crowd, there are people who begrudgingly respect you, through to some who even like you possibly just a little bit-Ed)...indeed...and I ran the risk of potentially alienating them as well...
In this context...(oh here we go, "it's all about the context, I said", we'll be off to The Crunch next*-Ed)...shut it...anyhoos, so's it rapidly becomes a lose/lose/lose for me to attend this meeting because all I'm guaranteed to do is piss people off before I've even opened my mouth, and then really, really piss them off when I politely shred the lies of their guest speaker Frank Boland from Infigen Energy...(you mean like the rampant liefest that was his ABC Local Radio infommercial interview earlier this week?-Ed)...yeah, exactly those lies about production levels, etc...this shredding would then thusly fuel the character-assassination stuff about me being someone whom just shows-up to things to create hassles, and completely compromises those who are more moderate and accepting...(dare I say it, more intelligent-Ed)...a little harsh Ed, but I also feel that way sometimes... (*The Mighty Boosh- BBC TV)
I am completely biased, I'm sure, in that my first up-close experience with Wind Turbines in situ, was the Cape Bridgewater Turbine Industrial Estate near Portland, operated by Pacific Hydro...that was over 3 years ago and I still cannot forget the shock of seeing what has been done to such a beautiful coastal area by randomly slamming-down these massive towers with attached huge fans, that now completely dominate the landscape...(I find the Lake Bonney/Millicent Turbines just as unpleasantly imposing and confronting-Ed)...yeah, that's pretty crook too, but Cape Bridgewater, wow...even standing there looking at it, even standing there in it as you sortta' do 'cos the road runs between Turbines, I found it difficult to process that people would 1) even consider let alone 2) allow this horrendous development...it is truly, really surreal...
(Was that the time you drove 100kms to Portland, then Cape Bridgewater/Portland and back, approx 260kms round trip, for that public meeting with Pacific Hydro and Acoustics expert Steven Cooper?-Ed)...yep...(and politely from the floor during question time gave your li'l speech thingy about the definitive Fascism of the South Australian 2011 Interim Development Plan Amendment?-Ed)...indeed...(a point which Pacific Hydro's Lane Crockett generally conceded in the meeting?-Ed)...I don't remember him saying 'yes, that's Fascism' exactly, but yes, he did agree in broad terms...(and that was confirmed/reported the next day in the Portland Observer newspaper, including where you were positively described as "passionate"?-Ed)...all true Ed, and as covered in many previous posts...please availees, rather than trawl through it all here again, please view post from January 22nd 2013 and/or any post with a stupid 'Wind' pun in the title...
However, one specific point must be re-visited because it remains with us, because it is the room and the elephant...it is the rank Fascism, the dictionary definition application of Fascism, as witnessed/exercised/legislated by the Mike Rann Labor government in the SA 2011 Wind Turbine IDPA...the 2011 IDPA legislates to remove citizen's rights to oppose Turbine developments in any way, to remove the right/ability for citizens to utilise/access the Courts...and that right there is Fascism...not my opinion, not my poetic license, that there's Fascism at it's most fundamental...(and wasn't the 2011 IDPA in direct response to local farmer Mr Paltridge's extraordinary win in the Environment, Resource, Development Court re Visual Amenity?-Ed)...yep...(a win that stopped the outrageously corrupted Acciona Turbine development at Allendale East, where-in Premier Rann's brother was/is involved with Acciona?-Ed)...indeed...
(And Fascism as cemented in place by the 2012 adjustment to that IDPA that then further denies any possible Appeal Rights re Visual Amenity via the ERDC, by saying that VA can be mitigated by planting some trees near/around the 120m-high Turbines?-Ed)...well synopsised Ed, the 2011 IDPA completely removes Rights/Ability to Oppose and/or Appeal Wind Turbine developments...not a slogan, not an opinion, not a scurrilous inaccuracy, this is fact...(in fact, the IDPA is exactly what it appears to be and does exactly what the IDPA is meant to do-Ed)...it is what it is, and it's a very real Thang, and that Thang is Fascism...
I note that this is how I choose to roll...the Portland meeting was an
appropriate forum to air my grievances, and when I calmly and
intelligently did, even those who initially were scowling at me and
quietly scoffing my claims of Fascism, many of those faces were ultimately clearly
understanding the basic point I was making re the 2011 IDPA and it's
consequences re opposing Turbine developments, and the further
repercussions/implications that a Labor government, any government that
legislates to deny opposition is a government that legislates to deny
Democracy...I received a small round of applause...last Thursday's
meeting was wrong place, wrong time...simple as that...
I don't understand a bunch of the very specific and often very technical
stuff that relates to some of the many issues that people criticise Turbines about, but I know some realities as self-evident...for example, when the wind ain't a blowin', Turbines themselves require power from somewhere to maintain their own internal operations, eg, basic heating, motor power, etc, so then 'production' goes slightly into the negative, adding to the mainstream demand for electricity supply from elsewhere...as these figures are explained to me, even on good 'windy' days many Turbine sites struggle to maintain their 'optimum output'...I don't need anyone to explain to me that pro-Turbine statements that they provide 'base-load supply' energy because "the wind's always blowing somewhere" simply aren't true...it is an undeniable reality that the peak energy demand season in SA, in Summer, that's when SA is likely to experience extended windless periods, and anyone who's been there knows what a windless Summer week is like in Adelaide/SA...(absolutely stinkin' hot and everyone who can has their air-conditioner goin' flat-out-Ed)...and such heatwaves cause deaths, it's an accepted fact...
Moving some energy demand to individual Rooftop Solar only drives-up the price for those reliant on the mainstream supply models, and SA already has utility costs through the roof, most particularly for electricity...another fundamental reality, if Turbine electricity is so efficient and cheap then why are our bills so massive given we have so much production, allegedly?...everything I hear from Turbine proponents about cost are statements that 'sure, prices are high now, but demand and supply will drive-down prices, eventually'... (and there's still no reliable storage options that don't require huge banks of batteries-Ed)...and related to that, the habit of proponents to ignore the vast mining/manufacturing processes involved in producing these massive towers and Turbines, any batteries, etc...(and the handling of used/redundant infrastructure, eg, there's currently no way to recycle the massive blades-Ed)...indeed, across many issues, proponents make statements spruiking the green credentials of Turbines in a context where these other issues are ignored and the discussion starts with Turbines apparently just sprouting-up and providing endless free energy...
(So, if you get past the gross inefficiency of Turbines re their wind-reliant and therefore randomly unpredictable production/outputs, a fundamental flaw that guarantees a 100% capacity real-time reliance on other generation methods, eg, Victorian Brown Coal powered stations, many 'supply contracts' mean that electricity is being transported great distances, through infrastructure like the Heywood Interconnector, which is specifically designed to cater for two-way flow, outta' South Australia when it's windy here, and into SA when we need that Victorian coal power-Ed)...exactly...the proposed new Turbine development near Jamestown is under contract to supply electricity to Canberra, a minimum 1,000kms as the crow flies...(does that mean that 'Canberra' or the supplier/producer have an obligation to access the base load back-up supply from coal?-Ed)...I guess so, whatevs, this transmission distance guarantees energy losses that will force-up the price of the energy that reaches Canberra...
There are also the environmental issues re bird-strike, the as yet untested Human Health Implications, the previously mentioned Visual Amenity issues and legislative bastardry, etc, etc...across many posts I've detailed my opposition to Turbines...particularly with the Health Issues, Turbine companies/proponents continue to spew the line that 'there's no proof that Turbines cause health Issues', in a context where they know damn well that there has been no testing, these Turbines are going-up wherevs without any testing what-so-ever...they know that Steven Cooper's base-line study at Cape Bridgewater 1) proves that there are noise/vibration/pressure emissions from Turbines that 2) are experienced inside dwellings near Turbines, and 3) that there has been no appropriate scientific testing of these emissions and their effects...
And it's this sort of deliberate misrepresentation of the truth with the intent of grossly deceiving and manipulating people that really pisses me off big-time...companies/proponents take the reality that there's been no scientific testing of Emissions and their affects, and carefully wordsmith it into a statement about how 'there's no evidence to support claims about Health Issues'...the evidence doesn't exist 'cos the testing hasn't ever been done...(it reminds me very much of the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up, where-in authorities like SAPol (police) flatly refused to investigate and then later started lying about 'there's no evidence anything happened'-Ed)...yes, it's exactly like that, and no doubt a big of part of why it pisses me off so much...
Across multiple issues, I cannot support Turbine development as it currently exists in SA, but like many 'opponents' I believe that there may well be a time and/or place for appropriate Turbine development/placement after these issues are addressed, particularly the 2011 IDPA...but until then, I will continue to dissect the deliberate lies and deceits and manipulations of the truth perpetuated by Turbine Industry proponents, the SA Labor government, etc...thankyou for your patience today, and...
Tomorrow: CITACD Part II
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog..cheers and laters...
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